OOo Off the Wall: Fielding Questions, Part 4 - Mail Merges

It takes a while to get the hang of mail merges, but OOo 2.0's new Mail Merge Wizard helps make them easier to use.

Designing Mail Merge Source Documents

Writer includes separate tools for designing business cards, labels and
envelopes. These tools include functions that make doing a mail merge
easier and offer a specialized set of options. However, Writer also
includes a generic mail merge tool that can be used for other purposes. In
fact, many users prefer to use it instead of the envelope tool. Because
the generic tool can be set to use different envelope sizes, it is at
least an adequate substitute and many feel it is far less confusing
to use.

Select View > Data sources or press the F4
key. The data source window opens. If the window blocks part of the source
document that you need to see, select the Stick icon to dock it to the
upper portion of the editing window.

Figure 4. The Mail Merge fields is
another way of showing a registered data source.

3. Place the mouse cursor where you want the first
field to go.

4. In the data source window or on the Database tab of the Fields
screen, select the database and the table to use. Remember that for
spreadsheets the table is the sheet. Similarly, for Mozilla address
books, the table is the Named address book [x-ref].

5. Expand the tree view of the data source so that the individual fields
are visible.

6. Select the field you want to add to the source document. A field is a
column, regardless of what type of data source.

7. Drag the field into the source document with the mouse. A placeholder
field is created with the name of the field inside it.

8. After the last field in a consecutive set--for example, after the last
line of an address--add a field from the Database tab of Insert > Fields > Others
to set the record in the database to be used next. In most cases, you probably want
Next Record. (See below for more details.)

No matter which Database field you choose, notice that it is visible
only as a gray background. In most cases, it contains no information,
because it is simply an indicator and holds no specific
data.

Figure 5. Placeholder fields in a
mail merge source document.

9. Continue steps 6-8 until all the placeholder fields are
entered.
At this point, you either can save the source document for future use or
apply records and print it. If you save, remember that the source
document needs the data source or one with the same fields in order
to be used.
If you are going to be using the source document frequently, you may
want to save it as a template using File > Templates > Save.

Controlling Mail Merges with Database Fields

Database is a tab available from Insert > Fields > Others. The fields
on this tab all are related to mail merges. With the possible
exception of the Database name field, they are not designed for any
other use.

If you are designing labels or business cards, you can add the markers to
the first label or card and then select the Synchronize button to have the
fields added to all the other labels or cards. In any other mail merge,
you can use the database fields to control which records are used in
which order.

The Database tab fields are instructions about which record to use
next. They are easy to miss on the screen, because they show up as only the
gray background that indicates a field. Without them, however, a mail
merge fails.

The following table describes the mail merge fields that are available:

Field (Insert > Fields > Others > Database)

Purpose

Comments/Instructions

Any record

Adds the record specified to the next group of mail merge
fields.

Place the marker before the group of mail merge fields it applies
to. Records are numbered from the top of a data source table. If all items
on the table are selected, the header row is counted, so the first record
with data is 2. Use this field to control the order in which records are used in the
target document. If the condition is not true, then the previous record
is used instead.

Database name

Adds the name of a data source.

Mail merge fields

Adds mail merge placeholders to set up a mail merge's source
document. During the merge, the placeholders are replaced by the record's entry
in each field.

Fields are added at the current cursor position either by selecting
the Insert button or by dragging and dropping them from the Database
Selection pane into the document. When the Data Sources floating window
is open, you also can drag and drop column headers into a document to create mail merge
placeholders.

Next records

Adds a marker that signals the mail merge should add the next record
to the next group of mail merge fields.

Place the marker at the end of each group of mail merge. If the
marker is not added or if the condition for the field is false, then the
contents of a group of mail merge fields is the same as the previous
one.

Record number

Adds a marker that inserts the record number after each record in
the target document.

There is actually a Mozilla/Netscape option here! I select it, click next and get this error:

The connection could not be established, Please check the settings made for the data source.

Clicking more has several fields:

Information - The connection could not be established.
Details - Please check the settings made for the data source.
Error - The connection to the external data source could not be established. No SDBC driver was found for the given URL.
SQL Status - "
Information -
Details - sdbc:address:mozilla

Is there an external sdbc driver I need to find and install or something? I haven' seen it mentioned in these tutorials anywhere.

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